The Wager (1)

Walking on the road back to the Ninja Academy, Uchiha Yue suddenly felt a pang of regret for his earlier actions; he knew he had been too impulsive.

True, Tsunade's words had been harsh, and Uchiha Yue had been angry, but who was she? She was a powerhouse renowned throughout the ninja world!

Looking at himself, he was nothing more than a student at the Ninja Academy. What right did he have to lose his temper in front of Tsunade?

Furthermore, both the Third Hokage and Tsunade had been there. Uchiha Yue's previous actions hadn't just offended Tsunade; they had offended the Third Hokage as well. Thinking about the fact that he still had to live in Konoha, Uchiha Yue couldn't help but feel a sense of regret. Having angered the Third Hokage in Konoha, could he still live a peaceful life?

Now, Uchiha Yue could only hope that the Third Hokage was magnanimous enough to overlook his earlier offensive behavior.

Even so, for the entire afternoon, Uchiha Yue had been unable to focus on his training. Even Uchiha Obito, who usually trained alongside him, noticed that Uchiha Yue wasn't in a good state and told him to go home and get some rest. Clearly, Uchiha Obito assumed that Uchiha Yue was feeling down because he hadn't been able to defeat Hatake Kakashi.

On the way home, Uchiha Yue's mood remained poor, and he was deeply annoyed by his own rashness.

However, just as Uchiha Yue was fuming over his impulsiveness, the figure of the Third Hokage suddenly appeared before him once again.

Seeing the same kind, gentle smile on the Third Hokage's face, Uchiha Yue's mood involuntarily calmed down quite a bit.

The Third Hokage slowly approached Uchiha Yue, and before Uchiha Yue could take the initiative to apologize, he patted him on the shoulder and said, "Yue, Tsunade's personality is just like that; don't take it to heart. Besides, I was the one who was too eager, rashly asking her to take you as a disciple without her consent. Let those unhappy things just pass!"

Hearing the Third Hokage say this, the heavy stone in Uchiha Yue's heart finally fell.

At this moment, how could Uchiha Yue dare to speak ill of the Third Hokage or Tsunade!

Therefore, as soon as the Third Hokage finished speaking, Uchiha Yue hurriedly said, "Lord Third Hokage, I was the one who was too impulsive in front of Lady Tsunade, so I am the one who truly owes an apology. I'm sorry, Lord Third Hokage. You had good intentions in asking Lady Tsunade to take me as a disciple, but..."

Saying this, Uchiha Yue feigned a look of disappointment and lowered his head.

Seeing this, the Third Hokage sighed deeply and said, "Yue, actually, I had selfish motives in asking Tsunade to take you as a disciple; you don't need to blame yourself too much. War is truly detestable! Tsunade's younger brother and her lover both died in battle. Not long ago, she even left the village with her lover's niece. I only wanted to bring Tsunade back to the village, which is why I introduced you to her as a disciple. I hope you can understand the painstaking efforts of this old master!"

"Hmm?"

Just as the Third Hokage said this, Uchiha Yue suddenly recalled that in the original story, Tsunade shouldn't be in Konoha right now.

That's right, just as the Third Hokage said, Tsunade's brother Nawaki and her lover Dan both died during the Second Shinobi World War. Among them, Tsunade's lover Dan should have died in battle last year, which was the 7th year of Konoha. Therefore, the current Tsunade should be wandering the ninja world with Dan's niece, Shizune, teaching her ninjutsu while healing her own wounds.

Earlier at the tavern, Uchiha Yue had been too focused on Tsunade's angry words, ignoring the fact that she shouldn't have been in Konoha at all.

After listening to the Third Hokage, Uchiha Yue realized he had misunderstood the man.

It turned out that the Third Hokage had no intention of using Tsunade to keep him in check; he simply wanted Tsunade to return to Konoha.

However, as Uchiha Yue thought about this, he couldn't help but mock himself, thinking that in the eyes of these big shots, he was essentially a nobody. Before this, Uchiha Yue had always assumed the Third Hokage wanted to restrict him because he felt his own talent had caught the Third Hokage's attention. Who would have thought that wasn't the Third Hokage's intention at all? It made Uchiha Yue feel uncomfortable once again.

Human nature is often like this; when one focuses too much on oneself, it is inevitable to overlook many objective factors.

Uchiha Yue was much more mature than the average person, but he was still human, not a god, and he would inevitably make mistakes when analyzing certain issues.

However, the Third Hokage's words had cleared away his future concerns; at the very least, he didn't need to worry about the Third Hokage or Tsunade coming to cause him trouble. After a few minutes of conversation, the Third Hokage prepared to return to the Hokage's office to handle his duties. After all, the Second Shinobi World War had only recently ended, and there were still many things in the village that required his attention.

With his previous worries gone, Uchiha Yue naturally prepared to continue his rigorous training to enhance his strength.

Moreover, Uchiha Yue's determination to become stronger had become even more intense—not for anything else, but to make others truly take him seriously!

That day, Uchiha Yue didn't return to his home training ground, but instead went to Training Ground No. 8 in Konoha.

There, Uchiha Yue began by practicing his kunai throwing. Because he had only recently made a breakthrough in the way of hidden weapons, he didn't see much progress during this session. However, cultivation is not a matter of a single day; Uchiha Yue understood the principle that constant dripping wears away the stone, so he didn't pay it too much mind.

Following that, after finishing his hidden weapon training, Uchiha Yue proceeded to practice hand seals, taijutsu, and ninjutsu.

Once these were all completed, the main event of Uchiha Yue's training for the day finally arrived: chakra control training.

Having completed tree climbing and water walking, the difficulty of chakra control training had clearly increased.

The content of this chakra control training was undoubtedly crucial. After pondering for a while, Uchiha Yue finally set his target on creating a ninjutsu: the Rasengan!

That's right, creating the Rasengan, not just practicing it.

In the original story, the Rasengan was a ninjutsu created by the Fourth Hokage—a high-difficulty technique that required no hand seals and had no chakra nature.

Even though Uchiha Yue had seen Jiraiya's method of teaching Uzumaki Naruto in the original story, seeing it and truly mastering the Rasengan were two different things. Relying solely on his memory of the original story to train was just as difficult as creating it from scratch. Furthermore, the Fourth Hokage probably hadn't even created the Rasengan yet, so in order to put his own mark on it, Uchiha Yue didn't care at all about plagiarism.

The simplest way to create the Rasengan was undoubtedly to follow the method Jiraiya used to teach Uzumaki Naruto.

Therefore, Uchiha Yue took a balloon he had prepared in advance from his ninja tool pouch and prepared to start from the first step.

However, just as Uchiha Yue was about to begin developing the Rasengan, a figure suddenly entered his line of sight from afar.

And when Uchiha Yue saw the appearance of the person, his brows furrowed tightly once again.

"Tsunade, what is she doing here?"